R DeBey – Handmade Violins

I dropped my student violin off at debeys house this afternoon. After reading reviews and making a stop at an undisclosed luthier that wanted nothing to do with my business, I found myself very comfy in debeys presence.
Sure, I showed up with a sub par student violin that had seen better days. Debey was kind enough to have me in his home (which he works from) to asses the damages and repairs.
He spotted things and noticed marks that only a seasoned luthier could have noticed. With that said, debey is soft spoken. But a man with years knowledge. With a few tools and his ingenuity. He told me everything «wrong» with my violin. He is so well versed in the production of violins and companies that produce them, he was quick to determine what would best suit my violin from strings to my sound pin.
When I pick my violin up, we are going to fit a chin, and shoulder rest to fit my needs.
Debey is not a salesman, he does not run a money hungry company. He Is simply a luthier and a passion and a place. A good man in my book. I will never ask for advice, or seek out another company (person) to touch my violin in the future. I put my full trust and all of business needs in R. Debeys hands.

This guy deserves my review.
His jedi mind tricks have compelled me to be a good person and leave others with no doubt that he is as good as it gets.
He quoted me on 50 to 75 dollars on a violins bridge fix.
When I got there, he examined the instrument like a scientist would, diagnosing what might be right or wrong with it.
Compounding agent in tuning pegs, innefficient and possibly damaging tail piece, etcetera etcetera. Each one had a small fee from 5 to 17 dollars.
And his initial inspection was free, which seemed to include fixing the bridge as well since there was no mention of it.
This guy has a deep care about his instrument. In fact I asked him myself why he left a shop he previously worked at, to which he spoke of the conflicting trouble that the staff had to the fundamental anatomy of the violin.
As I see it, the 19^th century has had many fields given a scientific one over. I’d say instruments are slightly late to the game based on their tradition and thinking pieces such as wood (for an instruments non vibrating parts like a tail piece) must have magical properties.
Although with science, such fields such as whether a part truly distorts the sound can be analyzed across the musical frequencies.
This guy is the real deal. He’s not fixing it like the fortune teller to make you feel good and get him an extra slice of pizza. I’ve had enough nightmares from business based luthiers to know that my treatment is from a doctor.
My only wish is that he opened on Google reviews too so I could review him there!

Great quality work, excellent customer service and very reasonable fee structure. I have taken my own instruments to Randy, as well as my students’ instruments, and have been happy with the outcome, every time. I highly recommend his work. Important Tip: Always call and make an appoint, before you go!

Debey runs his violin making/​repair business in his home on the end of 23^rd. I came here not knowing what kind of repairs I needed for my bow that had been in storage since 2003. I called and set up on an appointment where he offered to take a look at my violin and bow free of charge. All the other violin shops seemed too pretentious. Schubacks has charged me $ 50 in the past just shave down my bridge by 3 mm & they made it seem like a HUGE deal to get me to spend the money.
Debey examined my bows, violin, clipped off the broken hairs on one bow, and gave me a run down of my bow hair quality, violin storage, and bow bugs (including a small information sheet).
When I asked about buying a higher shoulder rest, instead of selling me something (which I would I unknowingly bought!), he asked to look at my should rest, asked me to put it own, adjusted the rest legs, showed me the right way to position the rest and hold the violin, & now it works! He only charged me $ 5 for quite a bit of advice and kept me away from unnecessary repairs and stuff I didn’t need.
I really appreciated his honesty!

Dude rules. Best prices, everything you could want from a violin shop, but you arent paying for the brick and mortar or dealing with a bunch of people renting instruments for their ungrateful children. Check out his website, support his business. He set up my viola, and it sounds like a dream.

Excellent luthier work for stringed instrument repair, or bow rehairing. Best prices around. Fast turnaround.